How can I merge categories in Quicken 2020?

DougB

The Merge Categories help text says I can right click the category or subcategory and choose Merge with Another Category. That option no longer exists in Quicken 2020, whether the category has transactions or not. I remember using this in the past.

Chris_QPW

The option still exists.


Are trying to merge a transfer or one of the built-in categories?
(And yes, like you said, it does have to have transactions in it to get the above menu.)

DougB

Thanks for the reply! When I right click any category, none of them have either the "Merge with another category" or "Category Report" option. I am running Quicken Home, Business and Rental Property 2020 R27.28, build 27.1.27.28.

splasher

I get the same thing as Chris_QPW:

    

You might want to un-install and re-install Quicken using QCleanUI - Clean Uninstall and see if that resolves the issue.

Rocket J Squirrel

I get a different context menu depending on whether the category has transactions or not. My categories with zero transactions do not show Merge or Category Report.

[EDIT: as I now see QPW noted above.]

splasher

Rocket J Squirrel said:

I get a different context menu depending on whether the category has transactions or not. My categories with zero transactions do not show Merge or Category Report.

[EDIT: as I now see QPW noted above.]

That makes sense, what would there be to merge if it had not been used, it would just be a delete.

Rocket J Squirrel

It makes sense, but it's bad UI. Menu items should not appear & disappear. Inapplicable menu items should be disabled (gray).

splasher

Thunderbird email (if you use it) must drive you nuts.  Right clicking on a single vs multiple emails changes from having 22 entries in the dropdown to only 14 entries.  The "Delete" is worded differently, but is in the same relative position, just further up/down the list because of  the 22 vs 14 entries.

MHSwizzleStick

When I bring up the Category List with Show set to Full List and right click a category that does have transactions, I do not get the Merge option:

If I change Show to Used Only and right-click the same category, I do get the Merge option:

The Merge option continues to display even if I change Show back to Full List.

Quicken Deluxe 2020, 27.1.27.28

Rocket J Squirrel

That is odd. Can you add the "Usage" column to the category list view and see whether it shows 0 during the times the Merge menu item is missing?

Rocket J Squirrel

I can reproduce the behavior shown by @MHSwizzleStick , but only when I hide the Usage column in the category list, then close & re-open the list. That's a bug.

I can only guess that Quicken is failing to count category usage and using zero, and that showing the Usage column forces Quicken to count the instances. So the workaround is to show the Usage column.

MHSwizzleStick

When the Usage column is added, the Merge option always displays. Which might be the work around for the OP.

Rocket J Squirrel

I have reported this as a bug.

DougB

Thanks everyone, and great support! MHSwizzleStick had the fix that I also discovered myself before coming back to the Community to report it. I also added the Usage column to the Category List. PROBLEM SOLVED!